Continuous strand helical conveying apparatus



Oct. 6, 1953 E. T. LORIG CONTINUOUS STRAND HELICAL CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed March 10, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet l JNVENTOR. EDWIN T. LORIG ATTORNEY Oct. 6, 1953 E. 'r. LORIG 2,654,139

CONTINUOUS STRAND HELICAL CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed March 10, 1949 s Sheets-Shet 2 INVENTOR. EDWIN T. LORIG ATTORNEY Oct 6, 1953 LORIG 2,654,139

CONTINUOUS STRAND HELICAL CONVEYING APPARATUS Filed March 10, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. EDWIN T. LORIG ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 6, 1953 STATES apt-"sews 01F]? CONTINUOUS STRANDY-HELICAIJ GONMEYING APBARATJJS:

Edwin: T1 Iiorliz, Ross County; P 22, assignor to United; StatesSteel" Gorporation; a -corp'oratiom of 'New i J ersey" ApplicationlMai-ch 10, 1949; seriaizNasms za theiprocessing' equipment, such as continuous annealing furnaces, picklers;'. paint; and enamel" di'iers, must be extremelyiungif'itiz';'desired'to process the strip rapidly: Since-sufficient"space" is' often not avai1able"forthe" equipment necessary to' process thestriprapidly; the" processing has" been'carried outata much slowerratetthan desired; Iirordertodecreasethe'amountfofspacenow necessary, I'ihave'devisedia' helical:conveyor" which will permit leading" a; single" continuous strand of strirronto theu'otatingjreel'bodyin'the' samerelative'=constant position without lateral deviation at all times: Ii'r'other words: each in"- crement of f strandwidth initialljrcontacting the reel or deposited thereon; will'd'o so ata pointin a constantrotating plane perpendicular to theaxis" of the rotating reel: Somewhat. similar types of reels "have beemusedi in the textile: and i related industries, but the prob'lems'-=iii""those;in= dusti'ies' are" such thatthe reel's'which may lie" suitable "for thei'textile'industry willnotibe "suit ableio'r the" handlingf'ofsteefstripi It is therefore an'obj ect of my inventiontopravide a; reel or h'elicai conveyorwh'ich will'p'ermit" each helical iconvolution'iof "the 'strip" to'.be'eq1 1ally spaced'acrossthe'lio'dyof thereel "with auniform" distance between" strandi convolutlons" and" whichtherewillbeno' slippagebetwe'enthet strip" and" the reel body? This and other object'swillbemorei apparent after'referring' to the followingspecifieation" and attached drawings'inWliich:

V Figure 1" is' a front-view; partlyin section; of, the helical conveyorof "myinvention; j

Figure? is a sectional view taken on the" line H'Hof"Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional viewtakenontlieline III-III of Figure 1;.

Figured is a top "plan view of one end of the conveyor showing the arrangement of vthe cam track},

Figure 5-is*a- SGOfiOllfiiP-WGW of-adetail of my invention;

Figures-(rand 7 show a slightly; difierent modi; fication: ofmy invention;

Figure 8 is a view showing; how therstr-ip is 2 Clail'nsr (01. 287-7116) Township,, Alleghenywith arliearing 4; for, receiving adshafttl Mount: ed," on each of I the shafts 6. for movement there-.- with is ancirculars'idesplate 8; Extendingzbep tween-the. side plates. 8 and. rigidly fastenedll thereto. are ribs; III). which are; equally. spaced;

aroundthe. periphery" thereof and which are sameradicalidistance.fromlthetcenterloflrotations oflthe plates. 8.; The-side plates. 8;. aresprovided with 1 slots. I2.. locatedLbetween the. ribs IIII Lo-a cated' for sliding movementain each, ofi'theaslots,

I2 -is anon-rotatable bars or..spl1'ne. III. Each end; of .eachlbar I5 extendscthroughitsassociated slot. I 2+ and is provided. with a-srollerl. I fiwhich is are:

ceivedin. a cam ,lgroove I 85in lthenhousing 2;. The.

' cam groovesl 8.may beformedin alseparatetmemv ber I9 securedltothehousingl2..I. Thecamgroovesl I &in the. right.and leftlhandlhousingsr 2 are com-,- plementary andare so .shaped that the bars J4. will:move both .axially., anderadially. Thecaml groove I8 has: aside-portions I811 parallelitoathel.

. rectionin Fig-liters.) is: arranged angle; or:

helixstor-a plane perpendicular; tolthe, axis 012 the reeLto move the; splines I4 axially: from? left right-as seen inlEigureeln Between p OintS -A ,a-nd; B (counterclockwiseedirection inIEigure; ther beve1ed.- bottom mortion I 812 is arranged at an yoppositelx extendingrangle; to: moverthe. splines IA; rapidly: in the; opposite direction. As shownx ins Eigurer 5,1; therollers I6 re? supported; on. ball bearings 20 which take both radial andsthrust-z loads. If desired, the plates 8 can be madein '1' same manner;

The:operation .ofthe: device is: as; follows; lfhegstrip :S, to zbE'COIIVeYEd hBIiGESHX across the: faceyrotlthe-ireel; approacheatheweel attone; end: thereof; adj acent thetop: as= shown; in; figure- 23-;

"'- To iavoidgtheatendencmfor edgecrinkling or; otter--- stressing; of theedge ofithe sstrip, as-it is--;fed .onzor oifthehelical reel, it: should beefed-1 onto" and -ofi3: theereel =at-a: slight angleaequaLto the pitch of the spline segment actuating helical cam I8. The strip S is pulled around the reel at the entry side and the end thereof is clamped loosely to the oncoming strip to form a complete circle around the drum. Suflicient back tension is applied to the entering strip to tighten up the circular band to produce friction between the band and the reel body. One way of fastening the strip together is shown in Figures 8 and 9. The end of the strip is split at 22 and spread apart as shown to form two forked sections 24. The end of each fork section is then bent around the incoming strip at 26 and the reel is rotated either manually or mechanically in case means are provided for driving the reel. At the point of entry of the strip S, the cam track I8 is depressed from points A to B, as shown on Figures 3 and 4, so that the strip will contact the outer periphery of the stationary bars between these points. When the strip reaches point B, the cam track will have moved the bars 14 radially. outwardly so that the outer surface thereof will be beyond the outer surface of the bars 10. Thus the strip will rest on the bars 14 between points B and A as seen in Figure 3. Also between points B and A the cam track Hl will move the bars M from left to right as seen in Figure 1 so that the strip S will be in the form of a helix. When the stripreaches point A, the bars 14 are depressed and the strip S will contact the bars 10. Between points A and B the cam track l8 will move the bars H from right to left back to their extreme left hand position. Thus, as rotation of the reel continues, the strip S is helically arranged from left to right as shown in Figure 1 with a space 28 between convolutions. There will be nosliding movement between the strip and the reel because each bar I4 in rotating around the reel from B to A is moved axially the same amount per degree of reel rotation, and therefore there is no danger of marring or scratching of the strip. In other words, the cam track between points B and A is helically formed at its base with the angle between the base and a plane perpendicular to the axis of reel rotation being the same at all points. Depending upon the application of thedevice, the reel will be rotated from a motor (not shown) or by the friction of the strip S as it ,is pulled from the reel.

As shown in Figures 6 and 7, wedge shaped ribs 30 may be used in place of ribs [0. The movable bars 32, which correspond to bars 14, may be made sufliciently wide to occupy 'practicallythe entire space between the ribs 30 so that there is practically no clearance between the ribs 30 and bars 32 at the outer surface.

While two embodiments of my invention have been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without'departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1; A rotatable helical conveyor reel for handling strip comprising a pair of spaced apart housings, a side plate rotatably supported by each housing, a plurality of spaced ribs having their opposite ends fastened to the periphery of the side plates so as to provide spaces-therebetween, said plates having openings therein aligned with said spaces, a non-rotatable spline mounted in each space with its ends extending through the aligned openings in the side plates, each of said housings having a helically formed cam groove therein facing the opposite housing, each of said cam grooves having a side portion thereof par- 4 allel to the axis of the reel and a beveled bottom portion, a roller mounted on each end of each spline with its axis parallel to the reel axis and extending into the adjacent cam groove, each of said rollers having a cylindrical portion adapted to engage the said side portion of the cam groove and a frusto-conical portion adapted to engage said beveled bottom portion, the said side portion of each said cam grooves having a radially depressed portion whereby the outer surface of each of the'movable splines is depressed below the outer surface of said ribs, the depressed portion of each of said cam grooves having the beveled bottom thereof arranged at an angle with a plane perpendicular to the axis of the reel to move the splines axially in one direction, and the major portion of each of said cam grooves having the beveled bottom thereof arranged at an angle with a plane perpendicular to the axis of the reel to move the splines axially in one direction, and the major portion of each of said cam grooves having the beveled bottom thereof arranged at an oppositely extending helix to move the splines axially an equal amount per increhousing, a plurality of spaced ribs having their opposite ends fastened. to the periphery of the side plates so as to provide spaces therebetween, said plates having substantially rectangular openings therein aligned with said spaces, a substantially rectangular spline mounted in each space with its ends extending through the aligned openings in the side plates, each of said housings having a helically formed cam groove therein facing the opposite housing, each of said cam grooves having a side portion thereof parallel to the axis of the reel and a beveled bottom portion, a roller mounted on each end of each spline with its axis parallel to the reel axis and extending into the adjacent cam groove, each of said rollers having a cylindrical portion adapted to engage the said side portion of the cam groove and a frusto-conical portion adapted to engage said beveled bottom portion, the said side portion of each of said cam grooves having a radially deressed portion whereby the outer surface of each of the movable splines is depressed below the outer surface of said ribs, the depressed portion of each of said cam grooves having the beveled bottom thereof arranged at an angle with a plane perpendicular to the axis of the reel to move the splines axially in one direction, and the major portion of each of said cam grooves having the beveled bottom thereof arranged at an oppositely extending helix to move the splines axially an equal amount per increment of reel revolution in the opposite direction.

EDWIN T. LORIG.

References Cited in the file of this patent Hellbach June 27, 1950 

